About Marshall Brain
I am best known as the founder of HowStuffWorks. I started Howstuffworks.com in 1998 as a hobby, and it has been fun to watch it grow ever since.
Most Recent: Marshall Brain Postings
If you go to 300house.com you can learn about a fascinating project/contest whose goal is to design a $300 house for the world’s two billion poorest inhabitants: We started with five simple questions: * How can organic, self-built slums be turned into livable housing? * What might a house-for-the-poor look like? * How can world-class […]
This quick video offers a perspective on where the philtrum (the two bumps under your nose and above your lips) comes from: According to the video: “This whole amazing process – the bits coming together to produce a recognizable human face – happens in the womb between two and three months.” Other people see the […]
Peugeot EX1 Now Holds The Electric Car Lap Record At Nurburgring – “Peugeot EX1, the all-electric concept car now holds the electric car lap record at Germany’s Nürburgring circuit. The car was unveiled at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, and has already broken half a dozen speed records up till now….” GE and EADS to […]
This video was taken in California recently and is titled “Earthquake Testing Trucks In Action” by the person who created it: He says: “This is going on wardlow avenue out in front of my house. I thought it was an earthquake at first and ran outside when my house started to shake.” So why are […]
Let’s say you are an adult and you have always wanted to be a race car driver. Or let’s say you are a kid, without a driver’s license, and you would like to learn to be a race car driver. You have several options. One relatively inexpensive way is to start by driving a kart, […]
What can you shoot out of a shotgun? It turns out that there are a surprising variety of things… Let’s say you are going to use a shotgun for hunting. A typical shotgun shell shoots a small handful of pellets. You pick the size of the pellets based on the size of what you are […]
Eee Transformer Demand “Far” Outpacing Expectations For Asus – “Wondering why it’s so hard to find an Eee Transformer these days? It’s not because there’s not enough parts to make things, or that there’s a problem with the quality. According to Netbook News, who contacted Asus spokesperson David Chang, it’s just because the device is […]
We’ve all seen water balloons pop in slow motion. But what if the water balloon is six feet in diameter? Here’s what happens: This leads to the obvious question: where do you get a balloon like that? Here is one place: Cloud Buster balloons [[[Jump to previous Funny...]]] If you would like to follow Brainstuff […]
Can you take all the parts of a PC, fit them onto a board that is the size of a stick of gum and then charge $25 for it? Seeing is believing: The first line of the video is so simple, but also mind-blowing: This little device is the prototype version of a Raspberry Pi […]
Plans for a 4,000mph underwater train from New York to London – “Vacuum Tube Train: A 4,000-mph magnetically levitated train could allow you to have lunch in Manhattan and still get to London in time for the theater, despite the 5-hour time difference. It’s not impossible: Norway has studied neutrally buoyant tunnels (concluding that they’re […]
Recent Postings by Category
BrainStuff
- Thank You and Best Wishes to Marshall Brain
- Contest – Design a $300 house and win $25,000
- How the Philtrum works – the place under your nose where your face comes together
The Coolest Stuff on the Planet
Keep Asking
- Why can a 5 foot 8 inch man dunk a basketball on a 10 foot rim while some people of taller stature can’t?
- What happens to our sun once it runs out of fuel?
- How do we know the age of the universe?
Stuff Mom Never Told You
- Do women have neater handwriting than men?
- Is learning cursive handwriting good for kids’ brains?
- Does motherhood improve brainpower?
Stuff to Blow Your Mind
- Blow Your Mind: Slay Your Paper Tigers
- Space Religion: Cao Dai and the 72 Inhabited Exoplanets
- Blow the Mind: Objects of Love
Stuff You Should Know
- “In The Neighborhood” by Jon Stewart Mosman
- “Thanatos” by Christopher Vincola
- “Frame Story” by Adam Pracht
The Stuff of Genius
CarStuff
- Show Notes: Heart-stopping Last Laps of Racing
- Never say Never: Jaguar XJ220 Spotted in the Wild!
- What’s your pick for the 2013 Indianapolis 500 pace car?
How-to Stuff
PopStuff
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 152: Final Episodes
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 151: Mailbag!
- PopStuff Show Notes: Episode 150: Barbie!
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know
Stuff to Change the World
- Who will own the Arctic?
- Obesity: The New Global Crisis
- Bill Gates Makes For A Pretty Decent Cartoon

